Dogan AkhanlÄ±, is a Turkish intellectual living in Berlin, who has
recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide.

He has written a play entitled "A Mother's Silence" that tells the
story of a Turkish girl raised in Germany who one day notices the
tattoo of an Armenian cross on her mother's chest.

The play was performed yesterday at Berlin's Unterm Dach Theater to
a packed audience of Germans, Armenians and Turks.

"The Armenian Genocide is not past history that took place some 100
years ago. It is very real today and impacts our lives today. We must
change the people's mentality by talking about the issue. And I, as
a man of the theater, am trying to make my voice reach the people,"
notes AkhanlÄ±.

A Turkish-born German writer facing extradition from Spain to Turkey, which accuses him of “terrorism”, on Wednesday urged Madrid not to send him to a country that is “slipping towards fascism,” the Digital Journalreports.

Dogan Akhanli, who has lived in Germany since 1991, was arrested August 19 while on holiday in Granada in southern Spain, on the basis of an Interpol “red notice” from Turkey, in a case that has further strained German-Turkish relations.

Berlin protested and a Madrid court freed Akhanli on August 20 but ordered him to stay in Spain and report to the authorities weekly, while Turkey has 40 days to send a formal extradition request.

“How can they consider deporting me to Turkey, a country that is slipping towards fascism, when Spaniards themselves must have learned from history what this means for mankind,” he said at a Madrid news conference, referring to Franco dictatorship in Spain from 1939 to 1975.

Germany has dismissed the case against Akhanli as politically motivated, and Chancellor Angela Merkel warned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government not to “misuse” Interpol to pursue its critics.

Akhanli said he believed Turkey ordered his arrest because “I express myself out loud, and because I write books about the Armenian genocide and the rights of the Kurds”, Turkey’s largest ethnic minority group.

Akhanli grew up in Istanbul, and was jailed from 1985 to 1987 in the aftermath of a military coup.

He emigrated to Germany in 1991, where he was granted political asylum, and in 2001 he became a German citizen.

On a return trip to Turkey in 2010 Akhanli was again arrested, accused of heading a terrorist organisation and having taken part in a deadly 1989 robbery.

After several months in detention, a court cleared him and he left Turkey, but the ruling was overturned in 2013.

Akhanli argues that the accusations against him are made up.

Any country can issue an Interpol “red notice”, roughly equivalent to an international arrest warrant, but extradition by Spain would follow only if Ankara can convince Spanish courts it has a solid case against him.

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Turkish-born German writer facing extradition from Spain to Turkey, which accuses him of "terrorism", on Wednesday, August 30 urged Madrid not to send him to a country that is "slipping towards fascism", AFP reports.

Dogan Akhanli is among the Turkish intellectuals who have recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Akhanli, who has lived in Germany since 1991, was arrested August 19 while on holiday in Granada in southern Spain, on the basis of an Interpol "red notice" from Turkey, in a case that has further strained German-Turkish relations.

Berlin protested and a Madrid court freed Akhanli on August 20 but ordered him to stay in Spain and report to the authorities weekly, while Turkey has 40 days to send a formal extradition request.

"How can they consider deporting me to Turkey, a country that is slipping towards fascism, when Spaniards themselves must have learned from history what this means for mankind," he said at a Madrid news conference, referring to Franco dictatorship in Spain from 1939 to 1975.

Germany has dismissed the case against Akhanli as politically motivated, and Chancellor Angela Merkel warned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government not to "misuse" Interpol to pursue its critics.

Akhanli said he believed Turkey ordered his arrest because "I express myself out loud, and because I write books about the Armenian genocide and the rights of the Kurds", Turkey's largest ethnic minority group.

Spain said Friday it would not extradite a German-Turkish author
accused by Turkey of "terrorism", weeks after freeing a journalist
wanted by Ankara.

"The government has decided against proceeding with the extradition of
Dogan Akhanli as called for by Turkey," Spanish Deputy Prime Minister
Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said.

Reacting to Spain's decision, the author told German daily Kolner
Stadt Anzeiger: "I'm very relieved. This is what I've been waiting
for."

Akhanli, 60, has lived in Germany since 1991. He was arrested in
August while on holiday in southern Spain following an Interpol
warrant initiated by Ankara accusing him of "terrorism", his lawyer
said.

After Berlin objected, Akhlani was released but instructed to remain
in Spain until a decision was made on his extradition.

He says Turkey wants to arrest him for his books on the mass killings
of Armenians during World War I and the rights of Turkey's Kurdish
minority.

Akhlani's arrest followed the detention of journalist Hamza Yalcin by
Spanish police on a Turkish warrant on charges of insulting President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and of having links to an unspecified "terror
group".

The joint Swedish-Turkish national was freed last month and Spain said
he would not be extradited to Turkey due to his refugee status in
Sweden.

Turkey ranks 155 on Reporters Without Borders' latest press freedom
index, below Belarus and the Democratic Republic of Congo, after
dropping four places from its 2016 ranking